Iraq News Highlights and Points To Ponder Tuesday AM 8-20-24

Government Acknowledges “Failure” To Control Dollar Exchange Rate

Monday, 08-19-2024, PM 10:53   Karar Al-Asadi   Since the Central Bank started operating the electronic platform and the international financial transfer system “SWIFT” about a year ago, the dollar exchange rate in Iraq has not witnessed stability despite the government and Central Bank’s attempts to control the exchange rate in parallel markets.

In this context, member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mustafa Sand, held the government and the Central Bank responsible for the failure to control the exchange rate of the dollar against the Iraqi dinar today, Monday.

Today, Monday, the dollar prices decreased with the opening of the Al-Kifah and Al-Harithiya stock exchanges in Baghdad, where it recorded 149,500 dinars for every 100 dollars, while the exchange rates in the exchange shops in the local markets in Baghdad witnessed a decrease, where the selling price reached 150,000 dinars, and the buying price reached 148,000 dinars for every 100 dollars.

Sand said in a press statement that “the government did not succeed in controlling the dollar exchange rate due to the policies of the US Federal Reserve,” noting that “the Iraqi side’s discussions with the American side did not achieve any positive results except for a protocol meeting with Biden that did not exceed 20 minutes.”

He pointed out that "there is American guardianship to bring in the Jordan National Bank and its acquisition of hard currency."

On July 9, Parliamentary Finance Committee member Raed Al-Maliki confirmed that the failure of the Central Bank’s measures and the “government’s measures” and its advisors to achieve stability for the dinar and reduce the gap between the two prices costs the state huge sums of money (trillions) that are wasted outside the budget,

and billions that go into the pockets of corrupt people whose addresses are many, and the people bear a great burden as a result of the reliance of the prices of most goods on the exchange rate in the parallel market, which is much higher than the official selling price.”

On July 2, the Prime Minister’s financial advisor, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, confirmed that the suspension of the electronic platform was part of a test aimed at controlling all financial transactions related to the dollar and preventing tourists from taking out the dollar, adding that closing the platform showed that the dollar was no longer able to rise, and that the Central Bank would reopen the platform on July 14 under close supervision.

On July 1, the Central Bank of Iraq issued a letter allowing Rashid Bank, Rafidain Bank, the Commercial Bank of Iraq, and airport exchange companies to sell the dollar at the official exchange rate to tourists starting next November.

The bank stressed that any currency exchange company that does not have branches at airports until November 11 can transfer its transactions to branches of one of the Rafidain or Rashid Banks or the Commercial Bank of Iraq, or work in partnership with exchange companies such as Al Rayan, Finjan, Sama Baghdad, and Al Sukkar, which currently have branches at airports.

Since the beginning of last year, Washington has intervened to limit the smuggling of dollars from Iraq, which led to the dollar price rising in the local market to a record level of 170,000 dinars per 100 dollars, due to the decline in the Central Bank’s sales of dollars, given its subjection to the international “SWIFT” financial system.

It is noteworthy that the Central Bank decided to finance trade in the euro, the Chinese yuan, the UAE dirham and the Indian rupee, in steps to reduce the demand for the dollar. https://non14.net/public/169430

Parliament Falsifies The Budget Again.. Al-Mandlawi May Lose His Position!

Posted On 2024-08-20 By Sotaliraq   MP Basem Khashan confirmed the possibility of terminating the membership of the acting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, if the charges of tampering with the budget tables that were recently revealed by the Prime Minister’s Office are proven,

noting that the parliament committed legal violations in amending the budget tables and they were on their way to being published and implemented had it not been for the government’s scrutiny, indicating that many MPs were subjected to deception in this file.

The Council of Ministers had spoken of an increase of 15 trillion dinars in the last tables, and it was not included in the agreement, discussions and voting, requesting a re-audit.

Khashan said, in an interview with the media figure Ahmed Mulla Talal:

The budget tables sent by the Council of Ministers were changed and their allocations were manipulated within the House of Representatives in an illegal manner.

The forged schedules would have been published and implemented had it not been for the Cabinet's scrutiny.

Most of the budget schedules have been changed, and the process has been carried out by ignoring a large number of parliamentarians.

The legal violations committed by the House of Representatives in amending the budget tables are countless and are considered a major crime.

The funding for the ration card basket has been increased to 5 trillion dinars for contracts that include major problems.

Manipulation and alteration operations can be legally classified under the crimes of alteration with the intent to defraud, regardless of the size of the amounts and figures that were manipulated.

The acting Speaker of the House of Representatives is responsible for tampering with the budget tables sent to the Cabinet.

The Federal Court can terminate Mohsen Al-Mandalawi’s membership, if the charges of manipulation are proven.   LINK

Learn About The Mechanism For Depositing Dinars And Receiving Dollars For Travelers From The Airport

Economy  2024-08-20 | 1,717 views  Alsumaria News – Local  The Central Bank of Iraq published the mechanism for depositing the dinar and receiving the dollar for travelers from the airport.

The Central Bank stated in a statement received by Sumarya News, "The process of depositing the dinar and receiving the dollar for travelers from the airport has become easier and safer, in a very smooth electronic manner and without routine complications."  LINK

The Biggest Challenge

First  2024/08/20   The biggest dilemma that many countries - especially Iraq - are struggling with is their reliance on a rentier economy, which places the state’s capabilities under the control of variables that it may not be able to control and direct, and contributes greatly to the emergence of a clearly unequal class in society, as it also has an impact on spreading ease and resignation among citizens due to the absence of incentive and competition.

In Iraq, oil constitutes more than 90 percent of its total economy, making it a rentier state par excellence. There are many reasons for this, most of which go back to the series of wars and policies of the former regime and the period of economic blockade, and later to political strife and factional conflicts that contributed to the dispersion of resources and the absence of an effective economic policy.

But the status quo is not an imposed fate, and the government program proposed by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and approved by the House of Representatives included solutions to this dilemma that could be the first steps on a long and arduous path that will take Iraq out of the captivity of dependence on a rentier economy.

The Prime Minister's repeated references to diversifying sources of income and maximizing financial resources from other sources of income, and the urging to pay great attention to the agricultural, industrial and service sectors and activate the tax sector.

All these references reveal the size of the challenge that the government has placed on itself, a challenge that forms the basis of the government's policy aimed at reforming the economy after decades of lack of will and ability to create a secure alternative economy.   https://alsabaah.iq/101373-.html